


Finding Home

by Sageycat



Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Crossover, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Midoriya Izuku is a Good Friend, Midoriya Izuku is a Nerd, Multi, Other, Protective Haruno Sakura, Sorry Not Sorry, Strong Haruno Sakura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-10-14 12:27:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20600771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sageycat/pseuds/Sageycat
Summary: Izuku Midoriya and Sakura Haruno, two children of endless tears who only wanted to feel useful and endlessly trying to give back to those around them. With a chance of fate they meet unknowingly rescuing one another from a path not yet taken.With their new bonds how will they face the world ahead of them and what will change? Can two young children grow up into the heroes they can be or will they be lost forever.





	1. Chapter 1

It was not soft where he was laying. That was the first thought that passed through his mind.

He hadn’t remembered falling asleep on the couch earlier. And if he did why didn’t his mom move him to his bed then? It doesn’t feel like the couch either though. Groggy thoughts shifted through his head, slow like syrup. 

He cracked open his eyes hoping for a little more clarity than his jumbled up feelings. Instead of the familiar view of his family’s home, he was surrounded by forest. Did he fall asleep outside? But it didn’t look like anywhere close to where the playground was. 

He had been playing with Kacchan and the other kids from what he remembered, they were playing hide and seek. The game only slightly better than the hero games they would play, especially now that they refused to Izuku play with them since he was diagnosed as quirkless. Ever since his mother took him to get his quirk diagnosis Kacchan had been really mean. He always teased him about how much of a Deku he was and how he was terrible at everything. It was really hard to be around him when he made him cry like that, but Kacchan was still his friend and he wouldn’t have anyone left if he wasn’t friends with Kacchan. 

Did they leave him in the park? Last time they played hide and seek they forgot he was hiding and it was hours before his mother came to find him. 

Getting up Izuku left the base of the tree where he had been laying down. His short little legs shaking from the rough sleeping. He walked through the woods hoping to see a familiar sight like the playground or even maybe Kacchan, but nothing seemed to be close to home. He didn’t even recognize these trees, tears started picking at his eyes. 

“Kacchan! Mom!” Izuku called out hoping for a response, but received none. At least it was still light out, the only fact keeping him from bawling his eyes out. 

Izuku walked a little further, the trees started to thin out and his hopes picked up believing that it would eventually lead him back to the road and from there it would be easy to find someone to help him. However, as the light grew between the trees, it didn’t lead him to the road like he expected. Instead, there was a large clearing with soft grass swaying in the wind and flowers sprouting naturally here and there. 

As he walked further into the clearing, he swore he could hear a soft shushing noise. It almost sounded like the noises he made when he cried and tried to be quiet about it. Maybe someone was around?! If they were crying, he could help them and then they could help him find his home! 

He started to locate the source of the sound walking over to the left side of the clearing where a grassy knoll was and tree stood. As he got closer he could see a small figure sitting at the base of the tree. Their head was in their arms, so they couldn’t see him approach and as he walked up to them he saw their hair was pink and she was a girl. Not the weirdest color he had seen, quirks really gave everyone such unique looks, he was rather plain looking next to some of his friends. 

“H-hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku. What’s your name?” He held out his hand, just as he’d once held out his hand to Kacchan. The girl looked up at him with wide green eyes, she looked to be his age which made him excited since she might want to play with him. 

“I’m Haruno Sakura.” She whispered wiping the tears from eyes with her bunched up hands before taking his own to stand up. Izuku smiled a bit at the positive response. “Thank you, Izuku-san.” 

He smiled even brighter at that, she was really polite and nice, much nicer than Kacchan and the other kids in his neighborhood. 

“Um… Sakura-san… why are you crying?” He shifted nervously, wondering if it might be rude to ask a girl that. 

“I was being teased,” Sakura blushed, embarrassed by the fact, not making eye contact to look at the ground instead, “about my forehead.” 

Izuku frowned at that, her forehead was only a bit larger than most, usually kids around him picked on him and couple others for their newly developed (or not so developed) quirks. To pick on her over something so relatively normal in terms of even appearance was a bit strange. Plus she was cute too, he thought with a blush on his cheeks. 

“I-i don’t think it’s that… that big,” Izuku smiled shyly at her, “do you want to play together?” If the sun still being out was any indication that he hadn’t been left alone for long, he could afford another hour or so to play with Sakura before going home to his mom. 

Sakura blushed even harder at Izuku’s statement, before nodding. “Thank you, Izuku-san. I … not a lot of the girls are nice to me about it.”

“Uhhh… we-we’re friends now right? So you can call me what you want ...” He stammered out.

Sakura seemed to brighten at that, “Alright, Izuku-kun! You can call me Sakura-chan as well!” 

A bright new and tenuous bond forged, the two new found friends run off to play with one another. 

… 

… 

… 

Soon the sky got darker and the shadows longer and the children decided to leave the clearing to look for their parents and go home. Sakura seemed to know the way home as she led him from the clearing and the woods, bringing him closer to town. 

However, the closer they got, the less he recognized. None of the houses and apartments looked like Mustafu and everyone he passed seemed strangely dressed. This was just as bad as when he was lost in the woods. 

“What part of town do you live in?” Sakura broke his panicked thinking. 

“None of this looks like my home….” Izuku frowned. 

“What’s your part of town called?”

“Mustafu.”

“That’s a weird name, I don’t know any sections called that. Are you sure?”

Izuku nodded, he was sure his town was called Mustafu. “Where do you live?” 

“Paper Lantern District, my parents are merchants, so we live in that area since it’s easier and there are only a few ninjas around.”

“N-ninja!”, Izuku exclaimed, “What do you mean ninja?”

Sakura looked at him curiously. 

Embarrassed he stammered, “W-well we don’t have ninja where I’m from…, but we have heroes and those might be the same thing, b-but it could be different. I don’t know if they are and why would we call them ninja’s? They don’t all have the same skills and lots of them don’t do secret missions, some of them a-are really loud and flashy too... “ 

Sakura stared at him while he muttered up a storm. As he continued to stammer and look at Sakura, a new confidence seemed to bloom within his friend. Taking his hands she essentially marched them over to her home.

When they got to her district he felt he shouldn’t have been shocked to see it covered with paper lanterns in every door frame. There was a homey feel to the wide street with loping corridors he could see as they walked down. Every nook and cranny was lit up with vibrant hues and people moved about. Placing orders at shops and generally going about their business.

It was a bit louder than the street he lived on which would make sense since it seemed everyone was selling something around here. As they walked down though, it got quieter and the shops quickly turned to residences. There were still hundreds of lanterns everywhere he looked. 

On the way to her home Sakura interrogated him about heroes like she’d never seen any and asked him a lot of questions about where he lived trying to narrow down where he might live. By the time they got to her apartment, Sakura declared that she didn’t know anything about heroes or where he lived. 

She had, however, promised him she would find him his family and then they could play together all the time. 

“Sakura-chan I think you’d be a great hero.”

…  
…  
… 

Sakura’s parents were just as confused as Sakura was. No one had ever heard of Mustafu in their life. Though once they deemed Izuku to be of no danger to them they let him stay over the night and promised they would take him to the police first thing in the morning. Sakura was very excited by the prospect of finding Izuku’s parents. 

When the morning came Sakura’s father, Kizashi Haruno, walked him down to the police station, Sakura had come along with them which he was happy about. It was quite a walk away almost a full mile in another district of town called the Uchiha District. 

Walking into this district was very different from walking into the Paper Lantern District. The Uchiha District was very quiet despite the people he could see walking around. There was a large broad dirt road running straight through with rows of neat planned houses and smaller ways he could only just see. Everything was mostly quiet, clean, simple, and covered in large fan symbols. 

They didn’t go far in the district, a large squat building that didn’t look like a normal police building from the outside. It also had a fan symbol on the front, this time with a star surrounding it. Entering it seemed a little more familiar with a desk at the front and some men writing down reports. Sakura’s dad took him to the front desk and reported Izuku as a missing child asking if his mother or father had been by to see if their son was here. 

The older man at the front desk, Haruto Uchiha, looked down at Izuku in a way that he could only describe as not a nice look, before saying that there had been no reports filed. 

“What do you mean no reports? I’m sure his parents are looking for him, he told me their names were Inko and Hisashi Midoriya.” 

“No one filed a report last night and we’ve never heard from any Midoriyas.” The man looked at Izuku again the same not nice look. The one Kacchan always gave him if he thought Izuku was hiding candy from him. 

Sakura held tightly to Izuku’s hand and gave him a concerned look. “Umm.. Izuku-kun said he’s from Mustafu if that helps?” 

The man’s look hardened even more, “Stay here while I talk to my superiors.” 

They waited in the lobby for a while, the clean wood interior so different from what he used to know. Sakura held his hand the entire time and when the man came back they all looked up. With him was a man in his 40s, deep set lines on his face with short blackish brown hair. He was wearing loose black pants and a green vest with a high collar. 

“I’m Fugaku Uchiha, clan head and chief of police, I’ve heard about young Midoriya's situation and we will take it from here.” 

Kizashi stood straighter at that, “It might be best if we stay for a while and make sure he finds his family. Sakura has grown attached I’d say.” 

The man, Fugaku, seemed annoyed by that though, “Either way, the boy will be brought in for questioning. We will discern if he is truly a missing child and offer the correct placement for him.” 

At this Sakura bristled but her father merely slumped, “Fine, but we will wait here.” 

… 

… 

… 

Fugaku did not like being questioned. He at most could handle pointed ones that were deemed factually sufficient and useful, but endless conjecture was pointless. This is what the questioning of one Izuku Midoriya had devolved to. 

The interview itself only took an hour, Izuku was a young child clearly under no genjutsu or any other trick according to their Sharingans. The actual talking portion of the investigation revealed no falsehoods or double identities that they could trace in his story, which seemed rather odd. He woke up and nothing was the same as to where he once was, this magical place called Mustafu. He’d never heard of it, so it must be a rather small village. 

Personally, Fugaku believed it was simply that his parents were immigrants who came to Konoha from their previous village of Mustafu. However, there was one issue. No one had heard of or seen any Midoriyas in the village. Not even a trace of paperwork on them. This either meant that they were here unlawfully or he was here alone. 

“He could be a spy sent by Danzo.” Haruto was talking again. The man was one of the hardliners in his clan pushing for control. He didn’t take any outsiders at face value often a problem with him serving at the front desk. 

Fugaku observed the child behind the glass as the boy sat in the observation room. “A weak child with no signs of training, no reason to spy, and no genjutsu or seals.”

“You never know with the Senju’s and their allies. They could have developed some new technique.” 

Izuku meanwhile was sitting in his seat, a tiny child about the same age as his Sasuke. “The boy will be set up with the orphanage, in the meantime, we keep an ear close to the ground for his family or any suspicious activity.”

Haruto looked like he wanted to argue, but closed his mouth and bowed. “As you wish, we’ll get it processed right away.” With that he was away. 

Fugaku re-entered the observation room, the boy perked up a hopeful look on his face, completely unguarded. “Unfortunately we were not able to locate any news of your family or their whereabouts. While we continue our search you will be set up in an orphanage nearby where you will be cared for. We will alert you to any news as it comes.”

The boy clenched his hands to his knees and he could see tears spring up in his eyes. Even Sasuke at this age rarely had tears, but he might have expected this to happen. Losing one's parents is never an easy ordeal no matter the age. 

Fugaku guided the boy from the room to the lobby once more. There he informed the Haruno man and child what would happen with the boy. The girl seemed particularly upset, hugging the boy tightly. 

“Could we not provide for him while you look for his family?”

⎯

Unknown to Izuku, back in Mustafu, people did notice his absence and began searching for him. A stream of flashlights illuminated all the dark corners of his neighborhood. Rounding through the parks and alleyways leaving no corner unchecked. 

Local heroes were even recruited in to help find the little lost boy, the cries of his mother echoing in their ears. Posters started going up that night, and more volunteer groups were formed, the children who he was last seen with where questioned and still no leads arrived. 

That same night a father came back home.


	2. A Budding Spring

Sakura wasn’t expecting to make a friend that day, she’d only ever made not-friends until that point. Girls in her neighborhood had only ever seen her large forehead and strange hair and deemed her too weird to be with them. She wasn’t from any formalized clan and her family had only just settled in Konoha a little before she was born. 

The way it was explained to her was that the Harunos had always traveled across the Elemental Nations being something called nomadic. Everywhere they went they picked up knowledge usually in the forms of books and scrolls and as they traveled they started to build places to house their collected works. Small bookshops at first that then would grow into larger libraries. The donations and sales they would get weren’t a lot but it was enough to support their growing merchant clan. 

When war would strike the Harunos would gather their collections and their tribe would move once more. It was said that they were the first ones to develop presses since the early warring states made keeping knowledge so fragile. That way their books didn’t need to travel through harsh conditions half as much as they used to. Even more the Harunos started to settle becoming less nomadic as the wars died down and eventually settling in most stable villages. 

According to Sakura’s parents there weren’t a lot of them, but you could find at least one Haruno in each major village. However, the Haruno’s move to Konohagakure was very recent, the Land of Fire was only recently stable within the past 50 years and Konoha was such a recent development in terms of so many different shinobi clans living in the same space. But as they’d yet to have a civil war and unfortunately did have a penchant for sending their ninja on ‘retrieval missions’. 

Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki left their childhood home in the Land of Stones to set up another branch of the Haruno clan. The process expedited by the connections and their own personal collection that they would make available to the public. With that it was only a year later that the Harunos brought her into the world. 

However, despite the ease with which the family was able to move into Konoha the process of integrating into Konoha was not without difficulty. Sakura noticed when other mothers at the market would see her mother and frown at her or when her father came home from another merchant council meeting with sagging shoulders. Sakura herself felt it with how the other children bullied her. 

So it was a surprise to her when a boy her age interrupted her usual crying. He hand greenish black hair, a wide nervous smile, and the clothes he wore she’d never seen before. 

“H-hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku. What’s your name?” He held out his hand, something no one had done for her before. 

“I’m Haruno Sakura.” She whispered wiping the tears from eyes, taking his own once she was done. “Thank you, Izuku-san.” The action making him smile like she’d just handed the world to him.

“Um… Sakura-san… why are you crying?” His nervous voice interrupting her thoughts.

“I was... being teased,” Sakura squeaked out, embarrassed that even he will now know she’s a target for the other kids, “about my forehead.” Even more embarrassingly the kids pick on her large forehead which she’d never noticed until they started pointing it out. Now it was the only feature she did see in the mirror. 

However, instead of laughing at her the boy brushed off her flaw and simply invited her to play. The hours that she spent with her new friend Izuku-kun in that field seemed to make up for all the teasing and bullying the other kids gave her. 

So what was she to do when her new friend didn’t know how to get home? 

When Izuku-kun emerges from the back area crying with Uchiha-sama, which her parents always make a point to have her call all of Uchiha, her first thought is to hit the Uchiha for obviously making her friend cry. Her only friend. She swallows down that feeling instead to hug Izuku-kun. 

Then Uchiha-sama tells them Izuku would be going to the orphanage. 

In her arms she felt Izuku flinch, on the list of things she thought would happen this was not one. Her friend should be reuniting with his own Mama and Papa and then she would be Izuku-kun’s best friend forever and they would play all the time and the other kids would leave them alone.   
Her friend being told that he had no family was not what she wanted from this. 

She desperately looked up at her Papa. 

Her Papa looked back at Uchiha-sama, “Could we not provide for him while you look for his family?”

“No.”

Izuku flinched again. 

“Why!” 

“Sakura! You do not yell at adults.” Her Papa scolded her, turning her cheeks red.

“Haruno-san, as civilians you do not have the authority to take a missing child under your wing and as Shinobi we have a duty to investigate all threats until we deem appropriate.” 

“Uchiha-sama, please he is just a lost young boy, surely we can take him.”

“No. We will take the measures we deem fit.”

At that her Papa seemed to puff out his chest, like she did when she got really mad, “I will appeal to the civilian council if I must, but the Harunos will not abandon this boy. Why can’t you see reason?”

Uchiha-sama’s eyes narrowed and a chill came into the room.

All the words she wanted to yell out built up in her lungs like a misplaced breath until she wanted to scream. 

“I do understand your concern Haruno-san, but my word is final take it up with the civilian council if you must. The boy will be in Konoha’s care and that is final.”

With that Uchiha-sama nodded to the man at the front desk who stepped forward. “Haruto will take over from here.” 

He then left back to the larger room behind the front desk dismissing them. The man at the front desk took over instead. 

“Midoriya, if you follow me I’ll take over to get processed.” 

Her papa knelt down to her level and she stared up into his eyes trying to convey with all the strength in her small body that Izuku would be staying with them. 

“Sakura, why don’t you go help Izuku get settled. He’s going to want some company, just be sure to get home when it starts getting dark out. I’m going to try to fix this.” 

With that her Papa gets up and heads out to talk to the council; if there is one thing Sakura believes in it’s her Papa. The rude man from before just sighs at them before leading them to the orphanage, his long stride forcing them to almost jog to keep up. 

⎼

The Konoha Orphanage is simply named just that; it’s a long wooden building with thick beams that sits on the outskirts of town. It reminds Sakura of what her Mama used to say about how people put things far away from them because they don’t want to be reminded of anything sad. She’d said that once when they visited the graveyard located just as far from town as the orphanage; they went there to visit a friend of the family who had recently died. When she asked why they placed all the gone people over in this area her Mama had simply said that and nothing else. 

Walking up the front steps to the deck and into the main area had the same heavy feeling she got when she first walked into the graveyard. Everything was neat and orderly and clean and looked nothing like this place had kids her age living here. 

“Ah, you must Uchiha Haruto and Midoriya Izuku.” A stout women, who almost resembled the building itself walked up to them. “I am Nono Yakushi, head caretaker of the orphanage.”

Sakura felt herself stiffen as the woman eyed her up and down critically like she was being graded on a test she never took or studied for. 

“They didn’t tell me about any pink-haired orphans.” The woman brusquely snapped her eyes back to the man with them. 

She has a name you old hag. 

Sakura stamped down on her errant thought before she said something out loud. She preferred to watch as Izuku took in the whole situation, he was being eerily quiet this entire time and she was worried because that wasn’t how her curious friend had acted before. 

“The pink-haired one isn’t for you, she’s the Haruno’s daughter. The boy is her friend and is just to help him acclimate before heading home.” The man clarified and Sakura’s attention snapped back to the woman and the man deciding her friend’s fate. 

WIth that the woman’s gaze pierced them once more before she led the man into the back room for more boring forms and long adult conversations. With that she was finally alone with Izuku once more.

“Ne… it doesn’t look so bad once your here?” She didn’t sound sure of herself at all. How do you even comfort someone in this situation?

“I don’t want to be here.” His voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear him. She clasped his hands with her own to bring him some comfort. 

“I… t-they just have to find your family right?”

“I-I don’t know if they will.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I don’t think they’ll ever find my family.” 

“Izuku-kun…” She looked up from their hands, holding tightly onto one another. Looking into his eyes she could only freeze. 

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to go home.” 

His eyes only held despair. 

Izuku didn’t know. How could he know? Everything was so different from his home and nothing seemed to make sense. 

The man who took him into the back room told him his name was Uchiha Fugaku and that he was the head of police for Konoha. He’d never heard of a town called Konoha in his life and Uchiha-sama didn’t look like any police officers he’d ever seen before. 

Izuku wondered if his incident was quirk related and maybe that’s how he ended up so far from home. When he’d suggested that to the officer he’d given him another strange look before saying they were investigating any jutsu’s that could have been used to transport him. 

What did that mean?

The interview felt like it had lasted years and they kept asking him questions that he didn’t know the answers to; questions about his clan, his village, what quirks where. Each one stranger than the last. None of the answers he did give seemed to satisfy them.

When the conclusion was for him to go to an orphanage it felt like there was a trapdoor in his stomach. He fell into such a deep pit and instead of butterflies that could carry him somewhere else it felt like stones pressing him down further. Only his tears could escape his body and its trapdoor pit.

He felt a little bit better when they finally led him out of the uncomfortable room with the stiff chair. Seeing Sakura again started a whole new wave of tears however; what would she think of Izuku now. Instead she’d merely wrapped her thin arms around him like she could block out everything the adults were telling him. 

Her father, as generous as Sakura was, tried to take him home with them, but the final silence of the Uchiha and the walk with the grumpy man to the orphanage itself only cemented his fate down with each step. Their walk was empty and quiet like himself. 

He barely registered the building or its caretaker. How could he? He didn’t know where his Mom or Dad was. He didn’t know where his home was. He didn’t know where he was. 

His empty replies seemed to only make friend more worried and all he could think was that Kacchan was right. He really was a useless deku who could only cry without a quirk. 

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to go home.” 

And in this world where no one knew who heroes were he doubted even All Might could save him. 

The adults came back and the other Uchiha, two too many already, left to ‘attend to more important matters’. The caretaker guided Sakura and himself through a door off to the left which was the common area for the children. 

There were several seating areas and some games with toys on some shelves. Everything still impeccably organized and filed seeming more like children were stored here than any ever called this a home. There were a couple children in the corner playing some game which when he walked in they then turned their attention to him for a moment before going back to what they were doing before. 

“The common area is only available from 7:30 am until 4:30 pm. No exceptions. Once you finish playing with a toy you must return it to its original spot. You will hear the bells for your meals and if you are not present you will not receive more food.”

Izuku looked up at his new caretaker -- what was her name again? Nono? The woman merely squinted her eyes at him. At least his old teachers would at least give him a slight smile even as they would turn around to praise whatever Kacchan was doing. 

She plowed forward, “Lights out is 6:30pm and we do bed checks so don’t think you won’t be noticed if you sneak out. You may leave the orphanage during the day, but you must be back before lights out.” 

She then swiftly turned without looking back to see if they were following her before heading through to a set of stairs on the other side of the room. They passed through a corridor at the top with a series of doors leading to what he assumed must be other bedrooms. Just as quickly as she started moving she stopped at a door towards the end. 

“Here is where you will be staying, room 4.” She unlocked the door and led them in. “Bed 9 down towards the corner is yours I suggest you drop off your stuff here before I show you the rest of my establishment.” 

… 

Two hours later they finally finished with Nono’s tour of the place and after sitting through more than one explanation of the rules they were finally allowed to unpack his things. He didn’t have much of anything though, just the clothes on his back and what little h he had in his pockets. 

Eventually Sakura’s father also joined them handing him some care items and extra clothes that they had which fit him except for in the shoulders. He did get the council meeting scheduled and her papa was sure that they had more than a fighting chance. 

Then it came time for Sakura to leave him. 

Here. 

Alone.

He couldn’t help the tears that came back in full force and he started to see a reflection of the same tears in Sakura’s eyes. 

“It’ll be ok Izuku-kun… I’ll be back tomorrow and we can play then!”

All he could was choke on his tears and nod as Sakura’s papa held her hand and guided her out of the building. Maybe if I stand here someone will come for me? 

In the end, he didn’t know how long he ended up standing there for. Later when Izuku would think back t o this moment he would remember the shadows starting to throw themselves up further along the floor and realize it was hours. 

Eventually he did leave the front entrance behind going through the motions of the night and Nono’s schedule. When he slept that night he barely registered the others in his room even as the boy in the bunk next to him tried to talk about something. Instead he curled up on his side and shut his eyes hoping that when he woke up this would just be a nightmare. 

I’ll wake up at home tomorrow and talk to Kacchan and see mom and (maybe) dad will be home too!

… 

… 

… 

The next morning brought none of things to fruition. But it did bring a different blond-haired boy into his life. 

Uzamaki Naruto was loud (not as loud as Kacchan) but still very very loud. 

They had met when the other kids, finding Izuku to be a little too strange for their tastes, decided to exclude him from the game of tag they were currently playing in the backyard. He had then noticed the boy from last night was sitting off to the sidelines watching the other kids play. 

He went over to the blonde, as he tried to gain ground under his shaking legs, and repeating his mantra in his head. I made friends with Sakura, I can make friends with him. I made friends with Sakura, I can make friends with him.I made friends with Sakura, I can make friends with him.I made friends with Sakura, I can make friends with him. 

He was almost sweating with how much this was making him nervous. 

“Do you--do you really want to be friends?”

Izuku hadn’t even noticed he’d come to a stop in front of the boy and worse …. His internal mantra had become an external one. 

“Y-yes!” Izuku shouted out before going right back to muttering. “If-if you want to….”

Naruto jumped up and grabbed his hands all in one motion. 

“Really!? Really!?”

Izuku nodded eagerly. 

At this point the other boy seemed content to try to out-compete the sun.

So bright… 

The two wouldn’t know what their friendship would mean in the future, but here in the soft green of the grass and forest around them it smelled like the dawn of a new spring.


	3. Movement

It's not my fault.

Deku was always falling behind, getting hurt, slowing everyone else down. How was he supposed to know what would happen if they left him alone. 

You should have been there. 

“It’s not my fault.” 

His mother started to go over almost every night to the Midoriya household to deliver dishes of food and to check up on Auntie. The last time they went, the old hag and Auntie told him it was okay to go up to Deku’s room which he did because at least there were toys in there.

The bed was unmade, sheets rumpled as if he’d only just gotten out of bed and would be back shortly. His action figures were still neatly laid out on their shelves and a small notebook was on the desk with a note on top that simply said “From Dad”. 

It was unnerving; like there was an invisible Deku shaped hole in the house. His unease crept up on him, and he turned to leave only to feel a large shadow behind him. Keeping the shadow in the corner of his eye he met a taller Deku, a much much taller Deku. 

This must be his dad. 

Where Deku was all green and sunshine his dad was all white and shadows, like he was seeing an impression of a person and not someone really there. 

He met the man’s eyes; colder than any adult he'd ever seen. 

A weight pressed down on him through those eyes. He wanted the floor to swallow him up and to have never come into Deku’s room in the first place. After what felt like an eternity, the man moved to the side; the motion a clear invitation to leave the room. 

Katsuki gladly accepted.

He refused to go into the room since then. 

Eventually he even started to refuse to see Auntie and her creepy husband in general. 

Overhearing his mom on the phone she started talking about guilt and letting him be sensitive. 

Bakugou Katsuki was not sensitive. If the old hag thought, he was weak enough to be taken down by something as stupid as Deku missing he’d show them all. He’d rescue that stupid deku from wherever he managed to end the fuck up and nobody would be able to dispute that he was the Number One. 

________________________________________

Izuku didn’t want to admit that he really depended on Naruto and Sakura those first few weeks he was at the orphanage. Sakura came by every single day to play with him and Naruto was always there when she wasn’t. 

At first Sakura was wary around Naruto; he was always very loud. It was disorienting at first how he could mimic a tornado with his movements, a perpetual tornado much to Sakura’s dismay. 

Still they’ve currently reached a true place where they can all be friends. Though it was touch and go at the beginning since Sakura thought Naruto was trying to steal Izuku from her. Personally, Izuku believed she still hasn’t forgiven him for that. 

Though, if someone were to ask the Izuku of the future why exactly he decided to do what he did next he would have to either blame or thank Naruto. 

When he first told Naruto of the heroes from his world he didn’t expect him to immediately exclaim ‘Ninja!’ while pointing his finger in his face. 

All the other kids laughed at him when he tried to introduce his favorite heroes to them. He didn’t understand why no one knew what heroes were in this world, especially All Might. He was too cool to simply be ignored. 

Still Naruto was the one who really explained what ninja meant to his new home. 

“Ninja are the protectors of the village!” Naruto had jumped to his feet at this point demonstrating with wide hands. “They are super, super powerful and the strongest of them all is the Hokage!” 

“…hokage?” Izuku weakly chimed after him. 

“The leader of the village.” Sakura intoned as if reading from an encyclopedia. “Sarutobi Hiruzen is the Sandaime Hokage. Only the major villages have kages, though and they have the majority of military power in their regions, but there are also the Daimyos who also hold political power across the Land of Fire.”

Naruto’s earlier excitement started sliding off his face as Sakura kept on, “Sakura-chan… please.”

“Sorry! I’ll bring some books by for you later Izuku-kun!” She rubbed her head looking sheepish about the information dump. 

Izuku nodded. 

“Ne- I don’t know what Sakura-chan was going on about, but the kages are the strongest and most respected person in the village. They guide everyone and everyone looks up to them. And that’s why I’m going to become the Hokage someday! Believe it!”

“Yeah!” Izuku couldn’t help but exclaim out in agreement. “So, what cool quirk does the Hokage have?” 

“I’ll bring more books.” Sakura drily intoned while Naruto nodded along in confusion.   
…

…

…

Living at the orphanage was as bad as he first assumed. Sure, none of the kids would play with him or even really talk to him, but at least he had Naruto and Sakura. He much preferred those two over the other kids here. 

Whereas Izuku was cast aside for his strangeness, Naruto was hated for his simple existence. The atmosphere at the orphanage was hostile around him and Izuku could often find the other kids either running away from him or pulling nasty tricks when he was looking.

Things would range from taking toys and starting fights to stealing food from the boys. Mune, one of the older boys, always led the charge setting himself up as the top dog in this place. It wasn’t difficult for him either; Mune was the largest and easily beat the other kids at all the games. So, it was natural that he gathered such a following around him, Izuku had seen it before with Kacchan. Mune was very efficient at laying the other kids out pretty quickly, surprisingly fast for someone his size.

Mune also had the habit of telling everyone in the place that he was going to go to the academy as soon as he was eligible. To be honest, they didn’t doubt that he would. 

One morning, Mune wasn’t there anymore. At first they assumed he’d just gone out of the orphanage premises for a time and would be back that night. But days passed by and Mune never came back.

When curiosity finally got the best of them they ended up asking the others who told them that Nono said Mune had been adopted. This explanation soothed them since it meant that without their leader the other kids relaxed in their pursuit. 

It also meant that they could play freely without worrying when Mune and the others would disrupt them.

They were outside, both Izuku and Sakura were panting heavily, small lungs gasping for air. Naruto was just ahead of them a triumphant grin on his, only slightly less out of breath than the other two. 

Sakura laid her hands down on her knees, “That’s it! I give!”

“Sakura! No!” Izuku admonished her for giving the game so easily. 

“Sakura, yes!” She yelled back at him before falling back first into the soft grass. 

“Pffff--” Izuku spit out a laugh before following the same trajectory. 

“I WIN!” Naruto crowed before running over to them. 

“How did you get so fast?” Izuku questioned him. “It’s been what 3 games and we still haven’t caught you?”

Naruto just shrugged before plopping onto the ground as well. The game of tag over, Izuku was happy to have a small rest in the meantime, even if he didn’t want to admit it. They laid like that in soft summer air for a while.

Naruto turns over to Izuku, “You know, Iko got adopted.” 

Izuku snorts. 

“I’m just saying…” 

“Iko has always been up there to get adopted.” Izuku turns to look at Naruto. “I’m not leaving you here.” 

Instead of smile that he expected, Naruto eyes dimmed. “You shouldn’t stay here just for me.” 

The peaceful sunlight that warmed them suddenly turned cold against their faces. Izuku didn’t know what to say to that. No… I’m not just here for you. I’m here because I already have a family and someday I’m going to see my mom and dad again. 

Instead he settles for saying, “If Mune and Iko can get adopted I don’t see why you can’t either.” 

He looks towards Sakura, but when their eyes meet, she looks just as lost. They sit in silence. 

It’s then that they hear a commotion inside, the sound of people running around and lots of hurried banging. The three of them look towards the door leading to the complex as the sound gets closer. 

The door swings out with force and it’s just Nono. She looks around hurriedly before locking onto them in the grass. 

“Uzumaki!” She calls out. “Inside!” 

She disappears back inside just as quick. The three of them lay there stunned by the sudden shift. 

“NOW!” Nono calls out from inside. 

Naruto shoots to his feet before stampeding inside. 

Izuku and Sakura look at each other. A breeze whistles by them. 

Quickly they jump to their feet and rush after their friend. 

Pushing past the door they find Nono in the front reception area with Naruto standing next to her. In front of them is an old man wearing red and white robes, a hat is perched on his denoting him as the Hokage from some of the books Sakura lent him… w-wait HOKAGE!

“Hokage-sama,” Sakura bowed beside him. He quickly copied her motions before looking between Naruto and the Hokage rapidly. 

“You two! Out!” Nono glares at them, her hand firmly placed on Naruto’s shoulder and with a last glance they scramble out of the room as fast as they arrived. 

They end up waiting in the large activity room. Maybe… less waiting and more pacing. They keep the silence between them both imagining and yet not daring to imagine the possibilities that this meeting could involve. 

At one point they had even pressed their faces to the door trying to catch pieces of the conversation which proved futile in the end. For once in their short span of knowing Naruto, he was uncharacteristically silent. 

It was about half an hour later that the meeting finally ended. Naruto escorted back into the main room by Nono, who was more pushing him than anything. 

Nono sternly looked at the two of them before turning back to Naruto. 

“You have an hour before they come back, make it quick.” 

She then headed back where they came from, probably to fill out paperwork in her office, leaving Naruto with them.

As soon as she left, they turned on their friend curious gazes searching him. 

A beat. 

“What did they want?” Izuku dared to break their silence. 

“I’m leaving.” 

Izuku wanted to brighten at the words, but Naruto was anything but happy about this new development. His mood a cloud over the room. 

“Isn’t the good?” Sakura questioned. 

“I’m leaving alone.” 

Their bodies simultaneously tensed; He wasn’t getting adopted. He wasn’t ever getting adopted. 

“I have to pack up.” With that their shell-shocked friend moved past them to do so. 

When they finally were able to move, they found him standing before his small packed bag. It didn’t even take him 10 minutes to pack everything he owned. 

“Naruto-kun, what’s going on…” Sakura shuffled closer to him, her hands nervously pressed together. 

“I told you guys… I’m living here anymore. Sarutobi-oji came by to tell me I’m living in my own place now. They’ll give me money for food, and I’ll have a check in once a week.” 

“They can’t do that to you!” Izuku shouted out. 

“Yeah, well, I guess they can.” His voice rang out empty, defeat laced in every word. “They can do whatever they want ‘cause no one cares about some orphan kid like me. I’ll never have a family and they know it. Why waste the time on me--”?

Izuku rushed forward, tackling his friend into a hug and sending both into the bunk with the force of it. 

Izuku didn’t know what came over him. All he knew was his friend was hurting so much worse than he could imagine. 

They laid like that, Izuku pressing every ounce of himself to his friend, Sakura coming over to sit next to them to pat their heads as Naruto cried silently beneath them. 

Izuku dug his face into Naruto’s jacket, whispering out his promise to them, “Someday we’re going to get so strong, we’ll be heroes and ninjas and we’ll never have to leave each other again.” 

They waited until the last moment before Naruto had to go to release themselves from each other.  
…  
….  
…

When Naruto was finally picked up it was a rather unceremonious affair. The ninja guards accompanying the Hokage and the Hokage himself simply nodded goodbye to Nono before taking leave with their friend. 

The moment Nono left the room, Sakura and Izuku took off. Tracking down the path of their friend. 

Hiding behind trees they followed the troop as they made their way through the outskirt districts. In the end it was only a 30-minute walk from the orphanage to the new complex that Naruto would now call home. 

The complex itself didn’t look much like anything on the outside. People had hung their laundry off their balconies, the commonly bright civilian clothes an exciting contrast against the grey brick of the building. 

The front entrance looked seemingly well-maintained but simply plain. The group had stopped in the front of the building and they couldn’t hear what the hokage was saying to their friend. 

Izuku watched as his friend simply bowed his head, and something started twisting in his gut. Before he knew what he was doing, his body was running forward. 

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew he wasn’t a good man. 

The actions of his administration alone were enough to make anyone think twice, but those were actions that must be done. 

For the betterment of the village and it’s continuation. 

Even if meant depriving a child of a home. It wouldn’t be the worst he’s done, but it certainly wasn’t easy, and it kept him under his watch and out of Danzo’s.   
When moving the young Uzumaki to his new home, they were already aware of the two small chakra signatures following them. His anbu guard registering them as civilians and non-threats, they could follow them. 

Still he was surprised when Naruto’s strange new friend ran out towards them. Kicking up dust as he sped between the halting just before him. 

The small boy an unexpected addition to the village; he’d picked his own interest and after looking into his background and spying on the boy they’d concluded that he was an average child with no ulterior motive. 

One, after all, didn’t get close to the Jinchuriki without some review. 

The boy stood before them panting with the exertion and Sarutobi watched as it quickly shifted to panic.

“H-h-hokage-sama!” His eyes shifted back and forth between himself and Naruto. “I-I w-wanted to… to ask if I c-could…” The boy trailed off.

The end of the sentence lost to the ground as he fixated his eyes on the dirt below.

Then the second chakra signal following suddenly decided to run forward, revealing the young Haruno girl. 

“Hokage-sama”, she bit her lip, “We’re sorry for barging in, but he’s our friend.” 

Naruto looked up from behind them.

The 3rd Hokage simply sighed, “And you don’t want to leave your friend. Do you?”

The Midoriya boy shook his head. The young pinkette had a stubborn look in her eyes. 

“You know staying with him will deny your own chances as well.” 

He nodded; head still bowed. 

It has been a long time since he was their age, but the bonds of youth still rang true. If he was a younger, more naïve man he maybe this alone would have moved him. Instead he looked at the bond between the young children and saw an opportunity. 

The village’s Jinchuriki kept under his watch and able to from bonds with those within the village. A more stable way that kept him in the dark to the truth of his existence. 

A hawk cawed overhead. He was running out of time.   
“Very well.” He watched as the group perked up. “Midoriya you will be allowed to live with your friend. If you would follow me, I will show you both, your new home.”

The children beamed at one another, looking forward to this new chapter for their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. The holidays and my schedule have just taken up my time to write, but I'm hoping to get more into the swing of things. This chapter was mostly me putting work down to set some more stuff up for later. 
> 
> Apologies for any errors.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea consumed me this past week and I really had to just start writing it down as I go. I can't attest to a schedule for this so I ask for patience and forgiveness. Either way I hope you enjoy and look forward to pushing out more content.


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